


one save at a time

by rachelwrites



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Superhero/Reporter AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27234958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rachelwrites/pseuds/rachelwrites
Summary: in which sokka is the least mild-mannered reporter in all of republic city, zuko is his new photographer, and the blue spirit is the first actual superhero the city's seen. and sokka sees no connection between these events. nope, not a single one.
Relationships: Aang/Katara (Avatar), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 313
Collections: ATLA Big Bang 2020





	one save at a time

**Author's Note:**

> wow. i have been working on this piece since august and i can't believe the world is finally about to see it.
> 
> much thanks to my three incredible betas (@houser-of-stories, @turtleduck-vibes, and @constallayetions on tumblr) and my two extremely talented artists (@shelbychild and @bisexual-lance on tumblr). please give them all a follow and take a look at their other works!
> 
> finally, thanks to @parmigiano on ao3 for the last names Qanik and Huo! they have been such a blessing to this fandom and we love you for that.
> 
> okay, enjoy reading!

Sokka curses as another arrow narrowly whizzes past his ear. 

He continues running, making a sharp left into the alleyway. Once he sees the brick wall of the building, he starts patting around to find what he’s searching for. Sokka gives a cry of relief when he finds it: the loose doorbell brick. 

He presses it, long and stressed, cringing at the volume of the noise. Then, another arrow flies over him and he starts buzzing more frantically. “Teo!” Sokka yells, desperately pushing on the brick. “Teo, let me the fuck in!” Sokka ducks under an arrow and winces when he feels a sharp pain on the side of his thigh, realizing one must have grazed him. He pounds on the brick wall again and shouts “Teo!” when finally,  _ finally _ , the secret door slides open. He jumps in and yells, “Close it!”

The door quickly shuts behind him and he hears a few small thuds, probably stray arrows that have missed their mark in favor of a brick wall. Sokka snorts. “Better luck next time, dummies.”

“Back here, Sokka!” he hears Teo shout.

Sokka groans and limps towards his friend. “You know,” he says, reaching the control room, “you could let me in a little faster next time.”

Teo spins around in his chair and wheels up to Sokka. “And  _ you _ could stop shouting my actual, civilian name at the top of your lungs in front of my hideout.” 

“What was I supposed to do?” Sokka asks. “Just shout ‘Engineer!’ at the door until you let me in?”

  
  


Teo takes a moment to look Sokka up and down. “Please get on the table, you’re bleeding.” Sokka winces as he slides onto Teo’s operating table and lies down. Teo cranks the table lower so it’s at a level where he can work on Sokka’s leg. Teo shines a flashlight on the wound and scoffs. “I’ve seen you stand on worse.”

“Maybe it was poisoned!” Sokka says indignantly. He knows in his heart Teo’s right and he’s just having an off night. Or an off two weeks, actually. 

Teo dabs some rubbing alcohol on Sokka’s leg, making him grimace. “Or maybe,” Teo suggests, unspooling some gauze, “something’s been keeping you distracted.”

Sokka sits up, suddenly excited. “So you  _ have _ seen him!”

Teo pushes gently on Sokka’s chest, reminding him to lie back down, before continuing. “Seen him? Sure. Talked to him? Not at all. I make tech and fix injuries, Sokka, and unlike the rest of us hapless heroes he has  _ literal superpowers _ . No need for someone like me.” Sokka hmphs in disappointment before Teo gets a chance to press any further.

Teo finishes wrapping Sokka’s leg and taps his thigh to let him know it’s all done. “You know,” Sokka says, sitting up, “it makes me, Sokka, reporter of all things vigilante, look a little ridiculous. He shows up with his fire shooting and his flying and going out in broad daylight and thinks he owns the place. Who does that?”

Teo grins. “Again, I don’t know anything more about him than you do. You’re right though, he is weird. He busts drug rings in the middle of the night like everyone else, but also saves cats from trees if he gets the chance.”

“He has no pattern,” Sokka interrupts, eager to vent about his new, least-favorite vigilante. “It’s like he just wants to help!” Teo raises an eyebrow at him. “Oh, come on, I know you  _ all _ want to help. Nobody ever told this guy he has to pick and choose his battles.”

“As you said so eloquently, his ‘fire shooting and flying’ kind of means that he doesn’t.” Teo tilts his head as if he’s looking at Sokka in a new light. “This is really bothering you, huh?”

Sokka sighs exasperatedly. “It’s not just my job,” he says. “Keeping track of the vigilantes is my  _ thing _ . It’s what I’m good at. I know half of your names. I’m friends with most of you! And the stupid Blue Spirit is messing it up.” He turns so his legs are dangling off the table. 

“Eh,” Teo says with a shrug, “I’m sure you’ll get your mojo back eventually, my dude.” He makes an exaggerated show of looking down at his wrist and then back up to meet Sokka’s eyes. “Don’t you have to be at work in four hours?”

+

Sokka shuffles into the office around eight-thirty, making him  _ only  _ a half hour late. Honestly, pretty good for him. He sits down at his desk and slumps when he realizes his partner, Yue, has yet to arrive. After spending the night on the streets chasing after costumed idiots, her cheer (and the coffee she always brought him) was the only good part of the morning.

Sokka turns on his computer and starts typing about the stupid jewel smugglers and their stupid arrows. 

It’s about fifteen minutes after he’s arrived that Yue comes running out of the elevator. Sokka almost cries when he sees the coffee she’s desperately attempting to keep from spilling while running over. “Yue, you  _ angel _ ,” Sokka says, meeting her halfway to take their coffee and walk her back to the desk, “I love you and please don’t ever leave me again.”

Yue laughs, a high pitched tinkling noise that Sokka associates with absolute comfort. “I’m sorry, silly. I got stuck on the way over.”

That makes Sokka raise an eyebrow. “Stuck? What do you mean, stuck?”

“Oh,” Yue says, blushing lightly, “my bus had some problems.”

Too vague for Sokka to be satisfied. “Like, ‘ran out of gas’ problems?”

He barely hears hers, but Yue mutters, “‘Almost crashed’ type problems.”

“ _ Almost _ crashed?” Sokka asks perturbedly. “And you still went to get coffee after? Why didn’t you say anything?” The deepening blush on Yue’s cheeks tells Sokka everything he needs to know. “Tui, it was him, wasn’t it?”

“I still totally hate him,” Yue promises. “If I hadn’t been busy thanking the moon I was alive, I would have told him off for you, I swear!”

“Yeah, yeah...” Sokka says, not finding it in his heart to be properly mad at her, “that’s what they all say.” Stupid Blue Spirit, being a superhero and making everyone like him so Sokka looks like a dick for not agreeing.

They sit down and start their usual morning banter. Yue had gone on another “blind date” set up by her parents, only for it to turn out to be with the same dick they’d been trying to set her up with for years. Sokka laughs and offers to pretend to be her boyfriend again for the holidays, if she needs it. Yue smiles and laughs. “Sokka, my parents  _ hated _ you.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that your parents have decided any man that’s not his glorious majesty, the almighty  _ Hahn _ is unworthy of you!” Sokka is expecting a laugh or some sort of reaction, so when it never comes and he realizes Yue is looking at his screen worriedly. He chimes in with a “You really don’t have to worry about it.”

“You went out alone again?” she asks.

“I needed to,” Sokka responds. “It’s what I do.”

Yue averts her eyes to read the paragraph and a half he has written on his computer. Her tongue sticks out a little bit to the corner, as it always does when she reads. “You got hit by an  _ arrow _ ?” she asks incredulously. “How are you here and not in the hospital? How am I supposed to get  _ photos _ for this piece? I swear to La, Sokka, you’re gonna get me fired someday.”

Sokka shrugs. “The Engineer fixed me up, I wasn’t too far from his place when the jewel smugglers caught up with me.” Yue’s eyebrows furrow in worry so he decides to press ahead. “And honestly, you can probably just use that picture you took of the missing diamond a few weeks back.”

Yue holds for a moment before leaning back with a long suffering sigh. “I just don’t want you to  _ die _ for a headline, Sokka. You’ve been too reckless since the Blue Spirit came around.”

“Well, as soon as he stops talking to other reporters and starts talking to me this will all be over,” Sokka promises.

“He’s an alien. He can fly and shoot fire out of his hands. Could there possibly be anything more to report?”

Sokka scoffs. “I’ll figure out something more for him to say.”

Yue looks like she wants to say more but just purses her lips. Sokka wants to reassure her that he’s going to be fine, but that’s when he hears a “Qanik!” coming from Mr. Piandao’s office.

He sighs as he stands, placing both hands flat on his desk to help him up. “Well,” he says, “it sounds like Mr. Piandao wants to see me.”

Yue gives him a small smile. “Don’t die there either, please.” Sokka grins back and turns to whatever unfortunate fate awaits him in his boss’s office.

+

“It’s just so  _ unfair _ ,” Sokka moans, sliding even further down on the couch as he hears the door unlock.

Katara smiles at him and pats his shoulder. “There, there,” she says, “let it all out.”

Aang chooses that exact moment to walk into the room. His eyes widen a little bit, but he quickly covers his surprise with a grin. “Hi sweetie, hi Sokka!” he chirps, enthusiastic as ever.

“Hi sweetie,” Katara replies, standing up and walking over to Aang to give her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek.

“So, not that it’s anything new,” Aang asks, “but why is Sokka on our couch?”

Katara responds quickly. “He was bitching about work.”

“Oh, so really nothing new then.”

That makes Sokka bolt upright. “Hey!” he says, leveling Aang with a glare. Aang just raises an eyebrow back in a silent challenge and Sokka slumps over again, defeated. “It was just a really hard day.”

Aang sits down where Katara had been previously. “Do you want to talk about it, dude?” 

Sokka nods.

“I’ve already heard this,” Katara says, “so I’m gonna get some work done. Pizza for dinner sound good, sweetie?”

“Yeah!” Aang says with a smile. He turns to Sokka. “Do you want to stay for dinner?”

“That would be nice,” Sokka says.

Katara nods at them and walks to the other room to order the pizza in peace. Aang grins at him, eagerly awaiting his story. “So, what happened?”

“So, I get into work this morning,” Sokka starts, “and Piandao  _ immediately _ calls me into his office. Chews me out for not having anything on the Blue Spirit while The Gazette has had  _ three  _ stories on him in the past week. So  _ I _ say that it’s not worth my time writing anything on him if it’s not an exclusive. And then  _ he _ agrees with me!”

Aang raises an eyebrow, confused. “And that’s bad because?”

“Piandao told me he’s not going to give me the front cover until I get something better than the random things the super-powered freak is saying to whoever runs up to him with a notepad!”

“I told Sokka that at the end of the day the front cover isn't all that important,” Katara shouts from afar, “and that all this Blue Spirit nonsense would blow over eventually.”

“But I  _ love _ making the front cover,” Sokka says, turning to Aang. “I love my job, and I love being the best at what I do.”

Aang grins impishly. “Sokka, maybe I can help you get a story  _ without _ the Blue Spirit!” Katara’s snort was muffled by distance. “If it’s really good, Piandao  _ has _ to put you back on the front cover, right?”

“Yeah, I guess?” Sokka responds slowly, raising his eyebrow. “What do you have for me?”

“Sokka, I promise you Aang’s story is not gonna be front page news,” Katara adds. “Also, pizza will be here in fifteen.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right sweetie,” Aang says, before throwing a wink to Sokka and shaking his phone. Sokka looks down at his own phone to see a text from the man sitting across from him.  _ The usual place, tonight at 11. _

+

Sokka looks at his watch, tapping his foot in frustration. 

He’s five minutes late. He’s  _ never _ late. It’s as Sokka thinks about taking out his phone to rat on the kid to his sister that he hears someone holler “Boo!” from behind him.

Sokka shoots a foot up in the air and turns to face Aang, who’s doubled over in laughter. “Spirits, was that necessary?” Sokka asks. When Aang nods, Sokka rolls his eyes. “How long have you been standing there, anyway?”

“Few minutes,” Aang says with a shrug. “I wanted to see how long I could go without you noticing me, but then I got bored.”

Sokka sticks his tongue out at his sister’s boyfriend “So, what scoop does  _ the Avatar _ have for me?”

Aang smiles shyly. “Uh,” he says, reaching to scratch his back with his glider-staff, “we’re gonna bust The Pirates?”

“The Pirates?” Sokka repeats, eyes bugging. “Dude. They are  _ not _ going to be happy to see me after last night.”

Aang opens his glider. “Well, they’re picking up a huge shipment tonight so this might be my last chance to bust them for a while. You in?” Sokka nods and Aang springs up the side of the nearest building, jumping off and opening the glider so he can start flying. Sokka blinks before realizing he’s behind, and runs to catch up with the boy.

It’s about ten minutes of Aang effortlessly gliding (curse the stupid circus he travelled with when he was orphaned) and Sokka sprinting at full speed before they land right in front of the building Sokka had identified months ago as the smuggling ring’s headquarters.

Aang lets his glider lead him down, planting his feet right next to Sokka’s. Sokka takes a deep breath before turning to Aang. “You promise me that it’s just you who knows about this? No one else, especially not our unfortunately blue friend?”

Aang nods seriously and stretches his arm towards Sokka. “You ready?” Sokka gulps and grabs onto Aang’s hand in confirmation. Aang jumps, bringing Sokka along with him, bouncing back and forth between different buildings. When he deems that they’ve gained enough speed, Aang presses off the building and he and Sokka start to soar through the air with the help of Aang’s hanglider. Sokka remembers the first time he’d done this with Aang; he’d nearly thrown up after they landed.

But here he is, gliding upwards with the nicest vigilante in Republic City. Aang leans back, and Sokka can see that he’s aiming to break through a window on the second highest floor. Sokka braces himself for the impact.

He hears the glass shatter and remembers that he has no reason to be worried. As always, the glass crashes inward, leaving Aang with a few small cuts but with not a single scrape on Sokka.  _ Your sister would kill me if you got hurt, Aang  _ once told him, which led to a much longer, never to be repeated argument about just how mad Katara would be if it was  _ Aang _ who got hurt without her ever knowing about his “extracurricular activities”.

Sokka looks at his feet and brushes the dust and grime from outside off his clothes. “Well,” he said, “clean landing as always, A—”

Aang interrupts him by slapping a hand over his mouth. Sokka looks at him, confused, and sees him staring straight ahead. Following the boy’s eye line brought him to look at the leader of the Pirates’ jewel smuggling ring, all staring at them with equally wide eyes.

Sokka removes Aang’s hand from his mouth. “Avatar,” he says, finishing his earlier sentence without revealing his friend’s identity. “And also, I take it back.”

“I thought they were going to be on the top floor!” Aang whines, stomping a foot in frustration. “We were gonna bust in here and then sneak upstairs.”

“Well, go beat them up before they come to their senses and start attacking  _ us _ .”

Aang looks aghast. “Sokka, I’m a pacifist.”

Sokka groans. “Okay,  _ fine _ . How about you go  _ nonviolently subdue them _ before they come to their senses and start  _ attacking us _ ?”

Aang, thank the spirits, decides to follow his advice.

“Wait!” Sokka calls as Aang is fighting four of them off with no help. “I have to get my camera out for photos!”

+

Sokka slams the paper down on Mr. Piandao’s desk. “Page seven,” he says firmly, staring at the top of his boss’s head.

Mr. Piandao sighs and fiddles with his  _ Editor in Chief _ nameplate. “Good morning, Qanik,” the man says, looking up to meet Sokka’s eyes. “Would you like to take a seat?”

“Page  _ seven _ ,” Sokka repeats, feeling that his message didn’t get across. “I got you an exclusive on a bust that sent seventeen jewel smugglers to jail and you put me on  _ page seven _ ? My story is less important than the celebrities who are just like us, I guess.”

“Qanik,” Piandao repeats, a little more firmly this time but not unkindly. “Take a seat.” Sokka freezes and decides he better sit. No matter how much of a mentor the man is to him, he’s still his boss. “Did you read what made the first page?”

Sokka feels his face redden. “No, sir,” he says. “Honestly I just saw that it wasn’t my piece on The Pirates and then I started flipping to find it. I stayed up until four to make the print deadline, so I was just kind of bummed that it wasn’t me on the front page.”

“I meant what I said about needing Blue Spirit material from you in order to make the first page,” Piandao starts, “but even if you had given me an exclusive on him, you wouldn’t have made the front page today. Look at it.”

Sokka unfolds the paper and closes it, finally looking at the front page. The headline reads  _ BUSTED: Mayor’s Top Dog Ousted for Embezzlement _ . Sokka’s guilt starts gnawing at him. “Oh,” he says. “Sorry sir.”

Piandao sighs and takes off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I understand that you’re frustrated, Qanik, but we  _ need _ unique material on the Blue Spirit. Your vigilante beat was one of the reasons the paper’s been selling so well the past few years.”

Sokka sighs and lowers his head so his forehead is flat on the table. “It’s so  _ annoying _ ,” he says, his words muffled by the desk.” 

“I know, Kid,” he hears Piandao say, “I know.”

Sokka groans as he lifts himself back up, overcompensating and leaning all the way back in his chair. “The only reason everyone likes him is because he’s so mysterious. If someone would just plaster his stupid face on the front of the paper he’d be over.”

“If only,” Piandao says. “Unmasking him would sell a shitload. Our stocks would be through the roof. Maybe they’d even finally let me retire.”

Sokka chuckled. “Like you’d ever retire,” he says before fully taking in everything the man had said. He quickly snaps to attention. “Wait. You actually want the Blue Spirit unmasked?”

“More than anything.”

“Mr. Piandao, why didn’t you  _ say _ that?” Sokka interjects. “Unmasking him is something I can do! That’s like, ten times easier than trying to get information out of him!”

Piandao raises an eyebrow. “You usually don’t like to tell people about the person underneath the mantle.”

Sokka shrugs. “Yeah, well that’s when the vigilantes aren’t being dicks to me and ruining my life. Unmasking is going to be  _ way _ less effort than an interview.”

“Kid,” Piandao starts, “if you unmask the Blue Spirit, you have the front cover. Guaranteed.”

“Hell yeah!” shouts Sokka, pumping a fist in the air. “I’m gonna unmask him so fast, you have no idea. Let me grab Yue—”

“Nope,” Piandao says, with a wave of his hand, “I’m transferring her this afternoon. Politics beat, kid’s wanted it forever but she’s a little scared to ask me. Don’t let her know though, I want it to be a surprise.”

“Oh,” Sokka says, feeling the wind knocked out of him, “okay.” He’s happy for Yue, he really is. Political journalism is always what she’s wanted to do. When you asked her greatest dream in life, Yue would respond  _ taking a picture that ends up in her history books _ . But still, something about taking this on without his best friend by his side feels daunting.

Apparently his face isn’t hiding his disappointment as well as he thinks it is because Piandao’s expression softens. “Don’t worry!” he says with an unusually bright tone as he picks up his phone and begins to dial. “I have a great photographer for you to work with.” Whoever’s on the other end of the phone picks up, and before getting a word in Piandao shouts at them. “Huo, get your ass up to my office, stat,” before slamming the phone down on the receiver.

Now it’s Sokka’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Does that usually work for you, sir?”

Suddenly there is a knock at the door. Sokka’s jaw slackens and Piandao fixes him with a smirk. “Yes. Now go get the door.”

Sokka does as he’s told, standing up and opening the door. 

Behind is a man around his own age, bent over and seemingly catching his breath. He looks up and Sokka realizes that the left half of his face is covered by a burn scar. Then, their eyes meet and Sokka is stunned by the shade of dark gold they are. The other man’s eyes widened, and he murmurs softly, “Oh no.”

Snapping out of his trance, Sokka stiffens. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

The man has the decency to look apologetic. “You’re Sokka Qanik, the vigilante reporter,” he says, more a confirmation than a question.

“That’s me,” Sokka says with a little bite.

“Qanik, meet Zuko Huo,” Piandao says, walking over to the two of them. “He’s been working here for, what, two weeks now?”

He looks at Zuko expectantly and the younger man, suddenly realizing he’s supposed to answer, finally finds his voice again. “Yes, sir.”

“I saw him fiddling around with some photos he’d taken on his computer yesterday and they were absolutely fantastic,” Piandao continues. “He was getting us  _ coffee _ , Qanik. So I promoted him, and now the paper’s newest photographer is all yours!”

Sokka feels the stress already simmering inside of him. The biggest assignment of his entire life and Piandao’s given him a  _ newbie _ ? It doesn’t help that Zuko looks equally as stressed, which just gets on Sokka’s nerves even more.

“Okay!” Piandao says, clearly not conscious of the tension in the room. “Get going!”

__

They leave Piandao’s office, Sokka feeling more than a little miffed. Zuko follows him back to his desk, and Sokka wheels around, pointing an accusing finger at him. “What are  _ you _ still doing here?”

“Um, well, first of all, I’m really sorry we got off on the wrong foot,” Zuko bumbles, “and I’m really excited and thankful for the opportunity to work with you—"

Sokka grabs onto the sleeve of Zuko’s shirt and drags him outside of the room where they couldn’t be overheard. “Um,” Zuko says, “Is everything—"

__

“Listen,” Sokka says, cutting Zuko off, “this is important. I’m the boss here, you got that? This is my career, three years’ worth of it, on the line right now. And no one is going to screw that up for me. Not even a cub photographer like you, okay?”

Zuko nods tersely before giving a weak smile. “You got it… boss?”

+

Sokka is sure that Aang walking into his own apartment to see Sokka melting down on the couch is a regular sight by now. Still, Sokka appreciates Aang for always sitting next to him and asking him what’s wrong.

“It was so  _ bad _ ,” Sokka says, putting his head in his hands. “I was absolutely  _ awful _ to him all day. He didn’t do anything to deserve it!”

“Yet!” Katara adds helpfully from her spot on the other side of Sokka.

Sokka sighs in admission. “Okay, he didn’t do anything to deserve it  _ yet _ .” Aang looks between Sokka and Katara confused until Sokka continues. “I have a new photographer. Zuko.”

Aang, spirits bless him, has the immediate reaction of concern for people he cares about. “Is Yue okay?” he asks. “She hasn’t had a flare up, has she?”

“No,” Sokka says, “she actually got promoted. But now I have this Zuko guy as my photographer and I need to unmask the Blue Spirit to get back on the front page—”

“Excuse me,” Aang interrupts, “you  _ what _ ?”

“—And all I did was yell at him all day!” Sokka continues, barrelling through Aang’s statement. “His first day on the job as a photographer. And I made it a living hell. After what the old-timers did to me on  _ my _ first day I swore I would never but here I am! Doing the exact same thing!”

Katara smirks. “Maybe he really  _ is _ an ass and you just have a good sense of people.”

“He’s not though,” Sokka groans, “just pretty timid and a bit clumsy. Also, maybe kind of an idiot.”

Aang pats his shoulder. “I’m sure it couldn’t have been  _ that _ bad.”

Sokka sighs, running his hand backwards through his hair. “You’re probably right. I’ll go out tonight, that’ll make me feel better.”

“You need any help?” Aang asks earnestly. Katara chuckles, but Sokka’s heart swells at the thought of his friend being willing to protect him two nights in a row. However, Sokka has an appointment and it’s one he wants to keep to himself.

Sokka smiles. “No thanks, buddy. I have all the help I need tonight.”

+

Another night finds Sokka in another dark alleyway, waiting for yet another vigilante. Luckily, this one was more on time than his sister’s boyfriend. “Hiya tough guy.”

Sokka spins and grins at the sight of the girl. “Suki!” he cries in excitement, giving her a hug. “I missed you!”

“I missed you too, ya lug,” Suki responds, laughing quietly.

Sokka finally pulled back. “Just you tonight?”

Suki nods. “Left the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors at home. Mai and Ty Lee needed a break.”

“So,” Sokka says, forging ahead, “you said you had something important for me.”

“Oh yeah,” Suki says, as if she hadn’t texted him  _ urgent _ earlier that evening. “Climb up the building.”

Sokka groans. “Didn’t we have a talk about not making me climb up buildings? I’m not a vigilante. In good shape, sure, but I take the elevator. I don’t scale brick walls.”

“Oops, I must have forgotten.”

“This is why we broke up.”

“Nope,” Suki says, popping the ‘p’. “Try again.”

Sokka sighs. “We broke up because we decided we were better off as friends and we had incompatible lifestyles.”

“There you go,” Suki says, “now climb the building. Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you the whole time to make sure you don’t fall.”

Grumbling, Sokka turns to the wall Suki’s been pointing at and begins to climb. He’s slower than he used to be, a little spoiled by Aang’s willingness to fly him anywhere. He hopes the buckets he’s sweating aren’t drenching Suki.

He finally pulls his last leg over onto the rooftop, letting out a large sigh of relief. “Oh thank the spirits, Suki,” he says, “we survived.” He turns to hold out a hand to help her with the last step, only to see her back on the ground, smiling up at him. “Oh, I  _ know _ you did not make me climb eleven stories only to abandon me up here!”

She grins even wider and nods. “You can thank me later!”

“Suki!” Sokka yells, drawing out the last vowel of her name and shaking his fist at the sky. He was nothing if not a dramatist. She winks and walks away.

“She’s just trying to help you, you know.”

Sokka jumped a foot in the air at the sudden noise from behind him. He turns around to see the Blue Spirit standing behind him. As his jaw drops, the superhero gives a grin, the only thing visible under his cowl. The mask covers the top half of his face, the design of a blue dragon with white detailing around the eyes, hairline and nose, ending in two little tusks sticking out on either side of his mouth. and “Hi,” the Blue Spirit says with a cheeky wave. “I heard you’ve been looking for me?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sokka blusters, still trying to get over his shock, “yeah, if you could just, uh,” Sokka gestures to his own general face area, “and let me know your name, that’d be super cool.”

The Blue Spirit has the audacity to fucking  _ laugh _ . “Is there any chance if I ask you nicely, you’ll stop trying to unmask me?”

That’s enough to snap Sokka back to the present. “Absolutely not,” he says, fixing his posture. “You’re my story, and I won’t stop until I know who you are. I’m a good journalist like that, unlike those other idiots you talk to.”

The Blue Spirit shrugs. “It was worth a shot. I’ll meet you back here, two nights from now.”

Sokka blanches. “Excuse me?”

That’s when the Blue Spirit gives him a prize winning smirk. His teeth are pearly white and Sokka’s only coherent thought in the moment is that he didn’t even know it was possible to be attracted to just the lower half of someone’s face. “Isn’t it obvious?” The Blue Spirit asks. “I’m giving you an exclusive.”

+

Sokka tugs at his bowtie, once again wishing his mark wasn’t attending the Republic City Ballet’s opening night gala. But he needed backup, and this was the only place he was going to be able to get it.

Finally, after fifteen minutes of keeping his eyes trained on the entrance, the woman he is looking for enters in a floor-length green ball gown. He sweeps over to the other side of the room and slips his arm through hers. She lets out a perfectly timed gasp of surprise and it takes everything Sokka has not to snort, especially because he’s sure she identified him from his steps the moment he started walking towards her. “Miss Beifong, do you mind if I steal you for a moment?”

“Mr. Qanik,” she says, “Just let me ask my companion for the evening to make sure he doesn’t mind. Satoru?”

The man next to her smiles and says, “Of course dear. Mr. Qanik, please just help my date find her way back to me when you’re done?” Sokka nods in affirmation before Satoru kisses her on the cheek. “See you soon, Toph.”

Toph’s cheeks turn the mildest shade of pink, which Sokka files away in the blackmail corner of his brain for later. For the time being, though, he whisks her away to a secluded corner of the room and turns her so she’s facing towards him rather than to the center of the room. She must realize what he’s done because she quickly lets her small smile crack into a fiendish grin. “What can I do for you this evening, Snoozles? In return, I want you to leak to your page six reporter that I’m having Satoru’s child.”

“I’m covering for page six tonight,” Sokka says, before fully realizing what she’d said. “Wait. Are you?”

Toph snorts. “No, you dumbass. I’m just trying to let my parents know I actually like this fucker.”

Sokka whistles. “Why would your parents care? He’s gotta be rich. I mean he’s here, isn’t he?”

“Make that journalist brain work a little faster, idiot,” Toph says, punctuated with a bop to the side of his head.

“Ow,” he responds, rubbing the spot where she’d hit him. It doesn’t even really hurt; it is more of an automatic reaction. “Satoru, Satoru… techie Satoru? The one behind the new fancy watch thingies?” Toph nods slowly, waiting for him to reach the final point. “Your parents don’t like him… because he’s new money?” Toph grins in approval but Sokka grimaces. “That’s super fucked up. There are standards for being rich now?”

“You think  _ I _ like it?” Toph asks, her voice giving away something a little deeper than her usual level of frustration with her parents.

Sokka gasps quietly. “Holy shit. You really like him. Does he know?”

Toph’s face scrunches “No,” she says softly, “not yet. I want to make sure he feels the way I do before I put it all on the line like that.”

He suddenly feels awful about lowering the usually spunky girl’s mood, and he decides to ask her what he came to ask. “Well,” Sokka says, “I have something that might cheer you up.”

Toph raises an eyebrow. “I’m listening.”

“So I have a meeting with the Blue Spirit for tomorrow night.” Toph’s mouth drops open. “Full interview, just me and him on a secluded rooftop. But you know, I don’t want to misreport. I could  _ also  _ use a hand if he decides to try and shoot fire at me halfway through. Do you think maybe the Blind Bandit would be willing to give me some back up?”

Toph’s slack jaw stretches into something wolfish, but her good humor has returned and that’s what Sokka cares about most. “Oh, absolutely,” Toph says, her smile nearly splitting her face. “I’m sure she’d love to.”

+

Sokka hates day-running. He only does it when he’s on the job, which means he’s wearing nice pants, and he sweats through his undershirt every time. He hates day-running and probably would never have to do it again if it wasn’t for the stupid Blue Spirit needing to run around saving people at all hours of the day.

He stops to take a deep breath and looks up to see the Blue Spirit handing a cat over to a smiling young girl. He bends his knees and  _ holy shit he’s about to start flying and that would make a perfect shot to go with his interview in tomorrow morning’s paper _ . Sokka looks over his shoulder and shouts “Zuko!” only to find that his photographer is nowhere to be seen. He hears the superhero take off from behind him and groans.

Sokka sits down on the curb and places his head in his hands, defeated. It’s only when he hears ragged breathing coming towards him does he look up again. Zuko’s running towards him at tortoise pace, wheezing as he goes along. His hair is mussed and there’s a soft sheen of sweat on his face. Zuko finally lands in front of where Sokka is sitting and bends over at his waist, hands on his thighs, in an attempt to catch his breath.

Sokka’s first thought is  _ wow, he looks kind of cute when he’s a mess _ . Sokka’s second thought is just a wave of frustration. “Where  _ were _ you?” he yells, standing up so he towers over the still folded Zuko. “I turned around and you were  _ gone _ !”

Zuko shudders and stands up all the way. “I tripped,” he says, in between still heavy breaths. He clutches his stomach before continuing. “I looked up and you were gone. I thought, well, I  _ hoped _ you came this way.”

The photographer’s face is red and apologetic, and Sokka can feel his anger abate. He opens his mouth to apologize for his harshness (he said he was going to try to be less mean to Zuko and he really did mean it), but Zuko barrels on. “But I got a picture!” Zuko shouts, looking excited. He grabs the camera off his neck and hands it over to Sokka.

Sokka whistles when he sees the photo. It looks like it’s of the Blue Spirit just moments after Sokka had seen him take off. He’s flying up at a slight angle, his hand in a fist and his arm outstretched. It’s remarkably high quality for a photo in motion, and if Sokka didn’t know better he’d think it’d been staged.

“This is… really good,” Sokka says, looking at Zuko with a sense of satisfaction. Zuko blushes and grins at the praise, making something expand in Sokka’s chest. He feels hyper aware of Zuko, and suddenly notices the amount of dust on his face. “Okay, let’s get you back to the office and clean you up. Your picture is going to look great on the front page tomorrow morning.”

+

When the Blue Spirit lands on the rooftop, Sokka and Toph have already been there for thirty minutes. Sokka wanted to make sure they beat the superhero there by any means necessary, even if it meant listening to Toph complain about her never ending boredom.

Sokka scrambles to his feet when the Blue Spirit lands on the ceiling. “Hi,” he says, cautiously approaching the masked man.

“Hi,” the Blue Spirit responds, nodding in Toph’s direction. “I see you brought a friend.”

“And a human lie detector,” Toph interjects. “Also, the muscle. Don’t lie to him or fuck with him.”

The Blue Spirit nods. “Okay,” he says, “am I allowed to sit?”

Sokka pauses for a moment. “Sure.” The Blue Spirit takes a seat on the roof, cross legged, and Sokka sits down right across from him. “How do you want your name to appear in the record?” The Blue Spirit cocks his head in confusion and Sokka explains further. “Like in the article, should I call you Mr. Spirit, Mr. Blue…”

The Blue Spirit thought for a moment. “If you could just write me in as ‘The Blue Spirit’ that would probably be best.” Then he grins. “But you can call me Blue. You know, just to make things easier.”

Sokka is once again attempting to not be distracted by how pretty the Blue Spirit’s smile is, so he dives in with his first question. “So, Blue, you’re an alien,” Sokka says.

It’s hard to tell under the cowl, but Sokka thinks Blue is raising an eyebrow. “How observant of you,” he responds dryly.

Sokka powers past the sarcasm. “So where are you from? Originally?”

Blue exhales. “I’m from a planet called Caldera. It was a few galaxies away from here. It was incredible, or so I’ve heard. Technologically advanced years beyond Earth. And it had a beautiful red sun and three moons.”

The tone in Blue’s voice is wistful, and Sokka makes note of that while attempting to ask his next question as gently as he can. “Was,” he starts, “does that mean...” he trails off, hoping the superhero catches his meaning without him having to be more straightforward.

“Yes,” Blue says, tightening his posture. “My planet was destroyed when I was three years old. Blown up from the inside out. That’s how I ended up here.”

Sokka feels a pang of sympathy for this man who’s already lost so much in his life. “Do you remember much about it?”

Blue shakes his head. “Not really. Bits and pieces. Running around the fire flake fields. Holding my baby sister. My mom’s face as she put me in the escape pod headed towards Earth.” Blue looks down before turning back to Sokka. “It’s hard. I know almost nothing about my culture. Everything that’s written about it here is third hand accounts. Some of them are written by absolute crackpots. I never know what’s true.”

“I’m sorry,” Sokka says, responding without thinking. He cringes inwardly, noting that he’s biasing his subject by sympathizing. That  _ and  _ finding the guy hot puts him down two points on the journalistic integrity scale. “So, what gives you your powers?” A weird noise comes from Blue’s nose and it takes Sokka a moment to recognize it for what it is: a snort. “Are you laughing at me?”

“No!” Blue said, trying to hold in another laugh, “but did you really think I’d tell you?”

Sokka shrugs, secretly glad they’ve moved into an easier conversation. “Eh, it was worth a shot,” he says, before gearing up for his biggie. “So, why do you do it? The saving people, the hero stuff.”

Blue looks almost taken aback by the question. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, come one,” Sokka argues, “you have  _ actual powers _ . You could be a super villain or getting crazy rich. Instead, you help old ladies cross the street. Why?”

“People deserve to be helped,” Blue says, “no matter how small the problem.” Sokka snorts as he writes the answer and Blue frowns. “Did I say something funny?”

“I mean, it wasn’t  _ not _ funny,” Sokka says. When Blue still looks confused Sokka rolls his eyes. “People kind of suck, dude. They can be awful and mean and greedy as hell. That’s literally the reason why we’re here right now. Because my editor was told by the board that he has to make more money off of me.”

Toph, breaking her long silence, chuckles. “As if you’re not single handedly the reason why the paper didn’t go under last year.”

Blue startles at being reminded of her presence while Sokka easily riffs off her statement. “Exactly! And still, they’re being a dick to my editor about it and that’s why I’m here, talking to you. You probably don’t want everyone to know who you are, do you? You can only help when you have your mask on! But here I am, actively trying to ruin that for you, because it’s better for me.”

Blue shakes his head. “I don’t think, deep down, that’s the reason why you’re doing it.” He pauses for a moment, letting the statement sink right down to Sokka’s stomach. Blue looks at Sokka intently, as if he’s staring deep into his soul. Frustratingly, he’s succeeding; sure, Sokka wants to be on the front page again, but it’s always been more about the truth-telling with a side of his unstoppable curiosity. He looks back at Blue, unsure of what to say, but the superhero finally continues. “When I crashed on this planet, I had nothing. But two humans took me in. They loved me and raised me as if I was their own. Even when my powers kicked in, they didn’t care. I burned down their barn once, and I was so sure they were going to kick me out. They just hugged me and told me I’d have to help them rebuild it.  _ That’s _ how I know people are good.”

The Blue Spirit stands abruptly, seemingly concerned about what he’s said. “Please don’t print that last part,” he says, more pleading than asking. “Goodbye, Sokka.” And with that he pushes off the roof, taking flight and leaving a still-stunned Sokka in his wake.

The moment is ruined when Toph wolf whistles. “Well, he sure is something.” Sokka turns around to glare at her but she just shrugs. “I mean, he never lied to you that whole time! Maybe he really  _ is _ a good guy.”

+

“It’s an interview, Sokka,” Piandao says with a shrug.

“An  _ exclusive interview _ with  _ the Blue Spirit _ !” Sokka exclaims. “One of a kind! Front page material!”

Piandao shakes his head. “We had a  _ deal, _ Qanik. You  _ never _ tell me that you’re willing to unmask someone. You think I can pass that up?”

“Mr. Piandao,” Sokka whines, “how on earth is that  _ fair _ ?”

“It’s not,” Piandao says. “It’s life. Come on, chin up!” he continues. “It’ll keep you inspired!”

Sokka groans and turns on his heel, stalking out of the office. Zuko’s waiting for him at his desk. “Hey Sokka,” the photographer starts, “I was wondering if there was anything specific you wanted from me—”

“Yeah,” Sokka says, fully aware that he’s cutting the other man off. “I’m pissed and I want to get coffee and take my break. Come with.”

Zuko looks shocked for a moment before settling into a small smile. “I mean, I was gonna ask you about photography, but sure?”

Sokka just powers past Zuko, leaving him to follow.

It takes until Sokka’s had his first sip of coffee for him to take a deep breath. “Sorry for yelling. Again.”

Zuko just smiles and takes a sip of his tea. “No worries. I know you’re under a lot of pressure from Piandao.”

Sokka waves his hand. “Let’s  _ not _ talk about work right now. Here we are, working together for almost a week, and I know nothing about you! Where are you from?”

After a moment’s pause, Zuko responds. “I grew up in Omashu,” he says, “moved here for college and then I... stayed...I guess.”

“Same here!” Sokka responds, for excited they’ve found a similarity. “Except, replace Omashu with the South Pole. Republic University just had the best journalism program in like, the entire world, so that was that.”

“What made you interested in journalism?” Zuko asks.

Sokka takes a deep breath and inwardly grins. Answering this question has become a perfectly rehearsed story for him. “When I was younger, my dad used to read the local newspaper with me every day.” He starts. “I was obsessed with the idea of being where everything was happening, helping the public to know what was going on. Then my high school paper put me on staff my freshman year, and that was the end of it.” He smiles, thinking fondly about his high school reporting days. Then, Sokka remembers how to be a good conversation partner. “What about you? How’d you get into photography?”

Zuko raises an eyebrow. “Are you sure you want to know?” Sokka nods fiercely and Zuko sighs. “I really hated the entire left side of my face growing up.”  _ The side with the sca _ r, Sokka thinks. “My parents would always tell me it didn’t make me look like some ugly, horrible monster but I didn’t believe them. So, when I was fifteen, they sat me down with a professional photographer to take portraits. We got the final photos back and I was so... I don’t know, shocked, I guess? It was the first time I didn’t feel like I looked awful. And then I figured out that photography is about finding beauty where there doesn’t seem to be any, and, well, I decided I wanted to try it for myself.”

It takes all of Sokka’s best efforts to not blurt out a confirmation of Zuko’s attractiveness. How Sokka “How’d you get it?” Sokka blanches as soon as the words are out of his mouth, wishing that his reporter instincts didn’t force him to ask any question he thought of. “Spirits. I’m so sorry, you don’t have to answer that—”

“No, it’s okay,” Zuko says, cutting him off. “My birth parents… I didn’t know them. My family adopted me when I was really young. I think my birth mom had died, but my biological father was… not a good person. Everyone thought he was dead, but when I was eight he started showing up out of the blue. I thought he was a ghost or something, but eventually my parents found out and he found out and got mad at  _ me _ for telling them and, well,” Zuko says, gesturing to his scar, “he did this.” He chuckles morosely. “I guess I should be glad he didn’t have anything worse.”

Sokka feels his heart break. “I’m so sorry,” he starts. “That’s such an awful thing, and I hope they put him away for the longest time, and if he’s not I can fuck him up for you—”

“That building’s on fire,” Zuko says.

Sokka blanches at the interruption. “What?”

Zuko points at the building behind him. “That building behind you. It’s on fire.” Sokka spins around and sure enough, the building across the street is smoking and filled with flames. He jumps to his feet and grabs his bag, hoping that Zuko’s following him.

Sokka runs down the block and finds that a crowd has already gathered outside to watch the destruction. He scoffs and pulls out his notepad, trying to write down everything he’s seeing. It’s not until a kid in the crowd shouts “Look!” that Sokka takes his eyes off his notebook and notices his all-time favorite superhero has entered the scene.

He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued. Blue normally shot flames, so what could he do about something that was already on fire? From about thirty feet up in the air, the masked man surveyed the situation before taking a deep breath. Sokka was waiting for him to do something idiotic like breath out and blow on the fire until it stopped, but he just kept inhaling.

And suddenly, it started to work. The fire was slowly drifting out of the building and toward Blue’s mouth, funneling into a tight column that he was sucking in. Like some kind of insane fire vacuum, Blue was removing every single flame from the scene. When the only thing left on the building was char and smoke, the superhero breathed out a puff of smoke, as if he was a dragon. 

The crowd erupted into cheers and Sokka turned, hoping to see Zuko next to him so he could ask for a picture. 

When his photographer was missing in action...yet again, he snapped a quick photo of the Blue Spirit floating next to the building and decided to call it a day.

When he checked his phone to make sure the photo was clear enough, he realized that he had a missed text from Zuko.

**_Zuko:_ ** _ Sorry, I had to run. I’m back at the office if you need me. _

Thinking back to their earlier conversation, Sokka brushed it off and sent back a quick response.

**_Sokka:_ ** _ np, see u in a bit _

Maybe he had a story to write, but he swore to Tui he was going to finish that coffee first.

+

Sokka’s on an evening run with Suki and Mai when the world truly goes to shit. 

The evening had already gotten off to a rocky start after Sokka had asked where Ty Lee was, and Suki had to hold Mai back from gutting him like a fish. 

The answer had been a simple “missing” and she’d left it at that. Sokka was worried but didn’t want to press for fear of invoking the wrath of the two scariest people he knew. They’d been walking around for two hours with absolutely nothing story-worthy in sight, and Sokka’s feet were beginning to hurt.

That’s when the fire starts coming at them.

Mai dodges first, tackling Sokka out of the way as Suki backflips over the shot. Another fireball comes hurtling towards him and he stays down, letting it just pass over. “Suki!” he yells, trying to make sure his friend was okay. He got a grunt back in response, which he knew meant she was still up, at least.

Sokka pushes himself off the ground back into a standing position, where he sees someone grab an unconscious Mai and drag her off. 

“No!” he shouts, running after her. Then, he feels something hard hit the back of his head, and the world starts to sway. “Oh no,” he mutters, before crumpling to the floor.

“Sokka!” he hears Suki scream from far away. He feels a whoosh of air and then Suki calls out again. “Go! Take him with you!” 

Someone picks him up, and then he loses consciousness. 

When Sokka comes to, he’s on yet another roof. The Blue Spirit stands at the other corner, facing away from him. It takes him a moment, but Sokka finds his voice. 

“Hey Blue,” he says, more of a croak than the suave greeting he’d imagined in his head.

The Blue Spirit startles and turns around. “Oh, you’re awake,” he says, the relief evident in his voice.

Sokka levels him with a serious glare. “That wasn’t you, right? The fire attack, I mean.”

Blue recoils, and then looks hurt. “No! Sokka, I would never. You have to believe me, I wanted to go back for the Kyoshi Warriors but one of them told me to get you and keep you safe.”

_ Suki _ . “She’s probably fine,” Sokka says, reassuring the masked man. “She can handle herself.”

“Sokka, I need you to know I would  _ never _ attack innocent citizens like that. I’m here to help, not to harm. I promise.”

“Okay! I believe you.” As he’s saying the words, Sokka’s shocked to find that they’re genuine. “You’re one of the good guys.”

“Right.”

“And because you’re such a good guy, you’re gonna take off your mask and tell me your name?”

Blue snorts. “Don’t push your luck, Qanik.”

Sokka thinks for a moment before speaking. “I know it wasn’t you but… we were attacked with fire. And Ty Lee is missing. Do you know what’s going on here?”

Blue purses his lips. “Can you do me a favor?” It’s not the response Sokka was expecting. He is about to say yes, but it seems as if Blue’s taken his pause as hesitation. “There’s something in it for you. My identity.”

“Yes,” Sokka says, quickly, not wanting the offer to leave the table. “What do you need?”

“Something big is coming,” Blue says. “Something so big, I can’t stop it on my own. I think the people need to know about it, and you can make that happen. That’s why you’re a journalist, right? So that you can give people the information they need?” Sokka nods mutely, wondering how Blue became such a good reader of character. “The woman with the golden eyes. Figure her out, and the rest will fall into place, I promise you.”

With that, Blue takes off again, not for the first time leaving Sokka alone on a roof with more questions than answers.

+

When Sokka walks into the Republic Times headquarters the next morning he’s an hour late and entirely exhausted. Yue, spirits bless her, gifts him with a coffee immediately upon seeing him. “So, apparently you came back from the dead to go to work today,” Yue says as Sokka begins to chug the coffee.

“Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” he responds. “Wait. Who told you I was dead?”

Yue blushes a little. “The pretty Kyoshi warrior came to see me last night.”

_ Suki _ . Sokka raises an eyebrow. “Oh? She did?”

“Just to tell me that she was worried about you and that if you didn’t show this morning to give her a call,” Yue says, turning about three shades darker. “But you’re here, so I guess I don’t have to do that.”

“Do it anyway,” Sokka says, turning his eyes to Cabbage News Network playing on the television. They were broadcasting the steps of City Hall, with the mayor making some time of impassioned speech. “Hey, politics junkie, what’s the mayor doing out there?”

“Oh, he’s introducing his new chief of staff,” Yue says with a wave of her hand as Sokka turns his attention back to the press conference. “Some woman named Azula Sozin. She graduated top of her class at Ba Sing Se University, one of the most foremost minds of her generation…”

Sokka’s sure Yue is still talking but he’s found himself entirely distracted by the mayor introducing the woman he’s named his new chief of staff. He grabs her hand and lifts it in a victorious gesture. The camera cuts to a close-up of the girl who went from a nobody to second-in-command of one of the biggest cities in the world in a week. She should be ecstatic, and her smile is showing that, but something in her eyes is off. He wouldn’t call them cold, because they’re alight with passion. But it’s not positive and excited energy, it’s something else that he can’t quite put his finger on. And that’s when he realizes.

Her eyes are  _ gold _ .

Sokka pushes past Yue who yelps in protest on his way to find Zuko. He finds his photographer hanging out in the layout room, talking to one of the copy editors. Upon seeing Sokka, Zuko seems to excuse himself to walk over. Zuko gazes over him, up then down, and snorts. “Rough night, buddy?” he asks.

“We don’t have time for that,” Sokka says. “We have to go on a side quest.” Zuko raises his eyebrow, clearly waiting for Sokka to continue. “The mayor just announced his new chief of staff, Azula something. Something’s up with her, and if we figure it out the Blue Spirit promised me he’d finally show his ugly mug to the world.”

“Woah,” Zuko says, holding up both arms, “that’s a lot to process. We’re working  _ for _ the Blue Spirit now?”

Sokka frowns. “No. I just made a deal with him, that’s all.”

“ _ Why _ ?” Zuko asks incredulously. “I mean, he doesn’t want to show you his face. It would put him at risk. Why would he offer that to you?”

“Because this is more important?” Sokka counters. “That’s how I know this is real, because he wouldn’t do this for just anything.

Zuko pauses. “And you trust him?”

That could mean any number of things. Is Sokka sure that Blue is sending him after someone bad rather than just someone who stands in his way? Is he sure that Blue will follow through on his promise to take off his mask? Sokka thinks for a moment before answering. Then he remembers how Blue talked about people, how much he cares. “Yes,” Sokka says with all the confidence he can muster. “I do.”

Zuko seems to mull it over before shrugging. “What the hell,” he says. “I just take the pictures. Let’s go get her.”

+

Zuko won’t stop fidgeting and it’s about to drive Sokka insane.

They’re sitting in the waiting room outside Azula Sozin’s office in city hall. After a contentious conversation with Piandao, the editor had agreed to let the two of them profile her, despite neither of them having a background in political reporting. Now that they’d somehow managed to get in through the front door, all they had left to do was interview her.

But Zuko keeps tapping his foot nervously and Sokka is going to snap his pencil in half if he doesn’t stop. “Hey buddy,” he says, leaning over to talk to his partner, “maybe let’s cool it on the foot jazz?”

Zuko looks ashamed, which makes Sokka feel worse than he already does. “Sorry,” Zuko says. “I’m just really nervous.”

“Yeah, me too,” says Sokka. “This story isn’t what I’m used to. But at the end of the day, that’s all it is. A story. And not even the one we care about either, just a random one to help us get there.”

Zuko looks at Sokka quizzically for a moment before the statement sets in. “Oh yeah,” Zuko replies. “Thanks.”

Before Sokka could hit back by asking why he only got a “thanks”, a receptionist pokes his head out of the door. 

“She’s ready for you,” he says.

The two of them walk into the room together and find Azula leaning against her desk, facing them. “Hello boys,” she says, gesturing to the two folding chairs in front of her. “Take a seat.”

As they take their seats, Sokka realizes that Zuko is shaking. Sokka acts without thinking and grabs Zuko’s hand. The action makes his photographer look at him in what Sokka can only assume is thanks and for a second it’s just the two of them.

Then Azula clears her throat and gives a pointed look at their hands. Zuko drops Sokka’s hand with superhuman speed, and Sokka feels a little cold at the loss. Then he gets ahold of himself and puts on his professional face.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Sozin,” Sokka begins. “My name is Sokka Qanik, and this is Zuko Huo, my photographer. We’re from the Republic Times, and we’ve been sent to do a basic profile on you for the paper. We’ll start with—"

“Honestly, I was surprised when the Republic Times said they were sending you two,” Azula says candidly, walking around her desk before settling across from them. “I mean, everyone knows Sokka Qanik, reporter of all things vigilante, which certainly has nothing to do with me. And  _ no one _ knows about  _ you _ ,” she says as she turns her gaze to Zuko. “You show up out of nowhere, a nobody photographer from a nowhere city, and you’re paired with one of the best reporters of the era? How did you make that happen? Who are you  _ really _ , Zuko Huo?”

Zuko’s squirming under Azula’s look and Sokka feels the need to jump in to save his friend. “Don’t worry about him,” Sokka says, “he’s just going to take a cool picture of you at this sick desk when we’re done with the interview.”

Azula raises an eyebrow. It’s almost  _ too _ cartoonishly evil, the way the chair towers over her and how her face is frozen in a vicious sneer. It’s as if she’s a Bond villain giving her final monologue. Sokka half expects her to dive into a speech about how she’s going to flood Republic City but instead she just says, “Fine. Let’s get on with it, then?”

The interview goes across relatively normal after that. Every once in a while she’ll glare at Zuko and the poor boy will jump a foot in his seat, but she answers Sokka’s questions (really Yue’s new partner’s questions, who was not entirely pleased about Sokka and Zuko taking this story from him) with ease.

They wrap up the question and answer pretty quickly, and then Zuko starts staging Azula for her portraits. He takes a fantastic photo of her with one hand wrapped around the other and her chin resting on top. She leans forward slightly to give more room to see the chair behind her, and Zuko snaps a few more. Sokka is shocked about how naturally they riff off each other, despite the earlier tension.

It’s not until Azula leans back in her chair and puts her feet up on the table that Zuko tenses. She notices and gives a heartless laugh. “Come on, Zuzu. Don’t you think we should let everyone know that I’m not all work and no fun?”

“ _ Zula _ ,” Zuko says, as if he’s asking her to test him. A real, genuine grin spreads across her face at the nickname and Zuko turns as pale as a sheet. “Um, Ms. Sozin. Ma’am. Sorry.”

Sokka fears for Zuko’s life and puts a supportive hand on his shoulder. He feels Zuko relax under his touch, and the trust makes his heart melt. Azula lets her eyes flit up to his hand again, but quickly enough that Sokka’s sure Zuko missed it this time. “Well?” Azula says, her attention back at Zuko. “Am I going to get my ‘silly’ picture or not?”

“Of course,” Zuko says, slipping out from under Sokka’s grip. He snaps a few more photos and signals to Sokka that he’s done.

Sokka sighs in relief. “Ms. Sozin, thank you so much for having us.”

“No, thank  _ you _ ,” she responds, fixing them with a crooked smile. “This was a most educational experience. I look forward to seeing your piece!”

Zuko practically bolts out the door. Sokka would like to think that he exits more calmly, but Azula has terrified him too. He finally catches up with Zuko in the lobby. “She was absolutely terrifying,” Sokka says in between huffs as he tries to regain my breath.

The photographer looks up at Sokka with an odd look on his face. Zuko’s cheeks are red and blotchy and if Sokka didn’t know better he’d think that the other man had been crying. “Yeah,” Zuko responds with a sigh, “terrifying. Can we head back to the office now?” Sokka nods and opens the door for him.

+

He and Zuko worked the rest of the day on tracking down information about Azula but decided to quit for the weekend, hoping to come back on Monday refreshed and ready for their new task.

Sokka, of course, wasn’t  _ really  _ planning on taking the weekend off.

He’d constructed about two-thirds of his Azula-Blue Spirit murder board when Katara knocked on his door and basically yelled that if he didn’t have his ass upstairs at her and Aang’s place for dinner in an hour she was going to murder him. When he’d finally calmed her down enough to accept the invitation, Katara asked him to bring something for dessert and promptly hung up.

That’s how Sokka found himself on the way back from the grocery store with a box of brownies, exhausted of his mind, and bumping into some guy on the street.

“Oh La,” Sokka said, realizing he’d knocked the guy onto his butt, “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

The guy lifts his head and Sokka’s eyes go wide. “Sokka?” Zuko asks.

“Hey buddy,” Sokka says, reaching out an arm to help Zuko up. “Sorry about that,” Zuko takes the hand and Sokka pulls him up. It’s the first time Sokka’s ever seen Zuko in casual clothes; the photographer is wearing gray sweatpants and an oversized band tee-shirt. Zuko smiles at him and for a moment Sokka feels something flutter in his stomach. That train of thought is interrupted when he feels something wet and slobbery on his leg. He looks down and sees the oddest looking animal he’s ever seen in his life. “Aw, who’s this guy?” he asks, leaning down to ruffle the animal’s head.

“This is Druk, my dog,” Zuko says, smiling down at the animal fondly.

Sokka’s a journalist, not a zoologist, but no way is that thing a dog. Something about it just looks  _ off _ , and it’s definitely not any type of dog he’s ever seen before. “What breed is it?”

“He’s a mix,” Zuko answers quickly, “too many breeds to remember all of them honestly.”

Sokka looks back down at the animal and decides that it’s too cute for him to care. “Hi Druk,” he says, continuing to pet the dog, “who’s a good boy?” Druk smiles, or at least Sokka  _ thinks _ he’s smiling, and wags his tail in appreciation. “Cute dog,” he says as he turns his gaze back towards Zuko.

Zuko blushes a little, though Sokka isn’t entirely sure why. “Thanks.” Then looking down at his feet he mutters, “I didn’t really give up working for the weekend, I’m sorry.”

“Dude, me neither!” Sokka says with a laugh. Zuko perks up and Sokka continues. “Text me whatever you have, I’ll put it on my murder board.”

“You made a whole murder board?”

“Yeah, it’s how I best organize my thoughts on a big story. Plus, we might actually be uncovering a conspiracy, so it seems appropriate. You should come over some time, I’ll show it to you!”

Zuko blanches. “Y-yeah,” he says, “that sounds great. Well, I have to keep walking Druk, but I’ll see you tomorrow morning at work. Bye!” Druk, seemingly in tune with his owner’s panic, breaks into a running start and Zuko is left to jog after him. Sokka shakes his head, watching them run off in the other direction.  _ Weird dog for a weird guy _ .

It’s not until he’s outside his apartment that it hits him, and he drops his brownies for the second time that day. He’d invited Zuko over to his apartment. Zuko, who he technically only had a professional relationship with. Zuko, who he definitely had a bit of a workplace crush on. He groans, running through all the ways he’s going to apologize to Zuko come tomorrow morning.

But as he reaches down to pick up the dessert, a second, more positive realization hits him. He slowly lets a grin spread across his face as he thinks about what it means and all the possibilities it might hold.

_ Zuko hadn’t said no _ .

+

“You know, I was gonna be fine on my own tonight,” Toph grumbles as Sokka trails her by a few feet.

“He  _ proposed _ , Toph. And you said  _ maybe _ !”

“And I meant it!” she fires back. “It’s not like having you around is going to help me come to a decision any faster.”

Sokka shakes his head and tuts. “Toph, Toph, Toph. You  _ love _ this guy. You submitted to ultimate vulnerability by telling him your secret. And he responded by saying he will always love you and he wants to be with you forever and  _ proposes with a ring he’d already bought and was just carrying around _ . And you’re gonna say  _ maybe _ ?”

Toph snorts. “Oh, please,” she says, “like you don’t make weird decisions in your love life.  _ Oh no _ ,” she continues, putting on a falsetto, “ _ a super-hot superhero keeps talking to me? He wants me to think he’s a good person! His lips are so kissable! Whatever shall I do? _ ”

“I do  _ not _ sound like that,” Sokka says, unconvincingly. He can feel his own face heating up.

“Oh, it gets worse,” Toph proclaims. “ _ Oh, and my photographer is cute too _ ?”

Okay, he’s definitely blushing now. “You done?” he asks, trying to sound serious rather than embarrassed.

Toph pauses for a moment, as if pondering the question. “Yeah, I am.”

“You know, you’ve done nothing but convince me that you’re just scared to be vulnerable and say yes to Satoru,” he says, quickly walking in front of her.

Toph groans and Sokka giggles, turning to walk backwards so he can face her for his next round of teasing when he sees two people he hasn’t heard from in a while. “Mai and Ty Lee?”

“Yeah, they’re still missing,” Toph says, sounding confused, “though I don’t know where that came from.”

“No,” Sokka says, putting a hand on one of her shoulders to stop her from walking forward. “Mai and Ty Lee are behind you.”

Toph stomps to get a better view of the scene and Sokka watches her face go from disbelieving to properly befuddled. “Huh,” she says, “Ty Lee! Mai! Get your butts over here!” The two girls lift their heads in perfect sync and begin marching towards them. “Sokka,” Toph asks, starting to sound a little concerned, “are they walking menacingly?”

Sokka gulps. “Yeah,” he responds, “start getting ready to make a quick exit.” Toph nods and grips his arm tightly, using her other hand to rummage around in her utility belt.

When they’re close enough to be heard, Mai starts talking. “The future Fire Lord has requested your presence.”

“Um, tell him I can’t,” Sokka responds. “Meetings with me should be scheduled a month in advance. Toph, hurry up!”

Ty Lee jumps in next. “Her orders were specific. Your presence is necessary for her plans.” Sokka grimaces as the two women assume their fighting stances.

“Got it!” yells Toph, lassoing her grappling hook and hearing it click onto the first roof she could find. Ty Lee and Mai look unfazed at the noise. “Smell ya later,” Toph says. Then she tugs on the rope and she and Sokka hurtle upwards at an unreasonable speed. 

When they finally make it to safety (after jumping a few roofs away) Toph looks at him expectantly. “You gonna tell me what’s up with that?”

Sokka shakes his head. “If I knew, I would.” That’s when he’s hit with an idea. “You know what I can tell you for sure though?”

“What?” Toph asks eagerly, ready to hear some gossip.

Sokka grins. “You should let that boy marry you.” Toph groans, and Sokka laughs, and just for a while he’s able to forget about Mai and Ty Lee.

+

Sokka hears the shouting before he rounds the corner where he heard the action was happening. It feels lonely today, Zuko having called in sick and no news on the Azula front, but it still was  _ technically  _ his job to cover the Blue Spirit.

Today, he’s watching a bona fide meteor shower, which he thinks would probably be beautiful if it was lightyears away, the way it was supposed to be. Instead, it was flying right into Republic City’s center square, with about a thousand innocent, screaming people underneath it.

Blue, of course, is in the thick of the fight against the meteors. He’s up in the air as he fire blasts them, destroying them into harmless pebble showers. Every once in a while, he fully incinerates one, which Sokka happens to think looks pretty cool.

Sokka’s eyes follow the pebble downpour as he attempts to take his own pictures (working on his own is  _ really _ hard), when he finds a small figure dressed in all red, with the exception of a black cloak. Unlike the rest of the crowd, this mystery person is entirely calm as they look at the meteors. Sokka snaps a photo and quickly turns his attention back to Blue.

It seems as if there’s really only one meteor left, but it’s the biggest one yet. Instead of winding up his arm to fire blast it again, Blue flies straight toward it. The masked man puts all his weight onto it, pushing against it with both hands. The meteor moves him back but Blue stands his ground until the meteor slows. Finally it’s just Blue floating midair and holding up a space boulder.

Blue finally has a good grip on the chunk of rock. He throws it in the air and the collective intake of breath by the crowd is so loud it sounds like a windstorm. As the meteor comes back down, Blue raises his foot and punts it like he would a soccer ball until it’s floating up, up, and away, never to be seen again. The crowd erupts into cheers.

The force of kicking the space rock has thrown Blue back, but instead of doing a full flip he’s just floating upside down. Sokka thinks it almost looks cute until Blue gets a stupid smirk on his face and Sokka realizes he’s been caught staring. He curses internally as Blue floats over to him, upside down the whole time.

“Hiya, Sokka,” the superhero says. “Did you like my trick with the meteor?”

“You could’ve died, you idiot,” Sokka responds, suddenly wondering when the new casualness of their relationship has started but ultimately deciding to go with it. “What would I do if I didn’t have you to report on anymore?”

Blue shrugged, which is an odd gesture upside down. ”You’d be out of a job?”

“Yeah,” Sokka says with a scowl, “and the city would have lost a really good guy.”

Sokka realizes his mistake as Blue perks up. “Would…  _ you _ miss me?” the masked man asks, bordering on giddy.

“No,” Sokka says. “I would only miss my paycheck.”

“You  _ would _ miss me!” Blue says, unable to hide the glee in his voice. “Sokka Qanik, big reporter man, would miss little old me if I got crushed by a meteor!”

“Don’t let it go to your head,” Sokka responds. He’s about to say something else, much more witty than  _ don’t let it go to your head _ , but suddenly Blue surges forward and their lips collide and Sokka forgets how to breathe.

Blue’s lips are soft and he tastes like mint. Sokka’s never kissed someone while they’re upside down before but he’s addicted to the feeling. The kiss is chaste, lasting almost no time at all, but when Blue pulls away Sokka feels the loss deeply. He looks at Blue’s grin and for a second thinks of Zuko, the idea of the other man making him feel a little guilty for some reason.

Sokka decides to push Zuko out of his brain and instead decides to take a good look at the man in front of him. Blue is in the process of flipping himself upright. He lowers himself almost all the way down to the ground, so that he’s just barely still floating, and looks Sokka right in the eye. “See ya around, Sokka,” he says with a smile. Then Blue winks and Sokka’s heart climbs up into his throat as the superhero flies off.

+

Sokka flops backwards onto his couch at the end of the day, really unsure of anything he’d done since that afternoon. He can still feel Blue’s lips on his, soft but insistent. His brain is doing nothing but replaying the wink Blue gave him as he flipped upright and shot away. Sokka could have sat there for hours thinking of nothing else until the noise of his phone ringing— _ ringing _ ? Who actually  _ calls _ people anymore? — shakes him out of his stupor.

He sees Aang’s profile photo taking up his screen with about twenty missed texts to match and he feels his heart sink to the floor. Sokka snatches up his phone and swipes to pick up the call. “Aang?” he asks urgently. “Is everything okay?”

“Katara found out,” Aang blubbers on the other end. “We had a huge fight and she left and I haven’t heard from her in an hour and I needed to know if you’ve heard from her—”

“No Aang, I haven’t,” Sokka says, trying to calm his friend. “How did this happen?”

Aang sniffles. “She saw me folding my outfit and I just couldn’t lie to her anymore, I just  _ couldn’t _ , Sokka. And she got so mad, I didn’t think she’d be that mad.”

“Aang, she loves you so much. She’s angry right now because she feels like you didn’t trust her,” Sokka responds. “You’ll have to work to earn  _ her _ trust back but eventually you will, and this will all blow over. I promise you.”

“Thanks, Sokka,” Aang says, still a little watery. “You’re the best friend a guy could have.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sokka says. “I’ve heard it all before.”

That’s when the ponding on his door starts. “Sokka!” he hears his sister yell from outside. “You  _ jerk _ , open up!”

Sokka sits for a moment, paralyzed, before he resumes speaking. “Aang,” he hisses, “why is my sister pissed and at  _ my _ apartment?”

“She’s back?” Aang says, the happiness evident in his voice.

“Aang, focus,” Sokka says, listening to the pounding increase in the background. “Outside my door, pissed, why?”

“Oh,” Aang starts, sounding a little sheepish. “I may have told her you knew, you know, in the heat of things.”

“Sokka, I can hear you in there!” Katara shouts.

“Tell her I miss her and that I’m sorry,” Aang says.

“I hope you die a slow and painful death,” Sokka says, and quickly hangs up. He approaches the rattling door and opens it slowly. He closes his eyes and flinches, expectantly waiting for a barrage of shouting. When no such noise happens, he cautiously opens one eye at a time to see his sister smiling up at him. Katara holds up a grocery bag and asks, “Do you want to make cookies?” Sokka nods slowly and lets her in.

It’s not until their chocolate chip cookies are in the oven and the two of them are drinking tea that Sokka finally works up the courage to ask her if she’s mad at Aang. “Oh, furious,” Katara responds. “I’m just not surprised.”

Sokka gawks. “You’re not?”

Katara shrugs. “I’ve known for a while, Sokka. I do the laundry in this house every other week. What, was I not supposed to notice the Avatar’s getup going into the washer with my sweaters?” Sokka snorts at that and Katara continues. “I had a hunch that you knew, but I wasn’t sure until he told you. You’re not off the hook either,” she finishes with a grin.

“And what can I do to make it up to you?” Sokka asks, playing along.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Katara says, “for starters, take the cookies out of the oven for me. Then maybe you can catch me up on your life. Anything you think I should demand of Aang?”

Sokka grins, thinking about what Katara would say if he told her about his kiss with the Blue Spirit. But thoughts of the superhero conjure the images of two different faces and Sokka frowns. “Tell him to stay in tonight,” Sokka says, “and then when you talk to him, tell him he needs to be more careful.”

Katara nods and taps out the message on her phone, presumably texting her boyfriend. Sokka hears the whoosh of an outgoing message and Katara looks up, her face lit up in the electronic glow of her phone screen. “Okay, so about that photographer?” she asks. “And I still want my cookies.”

+

Sokka wouldn’t call what he is doing stalking. Well, not exactly. He is following the Blue Spirit around covertly, to try to figure out his identity as well as his connection to Azula. And if he is hoping Blue would turn around and catch him, well, that’s nobody’s business but his own.

He’s peeking out to look at Blue from behind a building corner when he feels two taps on his shoulder. Sokka wheels around expecting to see Suki or Toph, but instead he just sees a mop of dark hair and a pink bubble in his face. Sokka rolls his eyes as the bubble pops and Jet spreads his arms wide. “Miss me, Sokka?”

“Not even a little bit,” Sokka says, turning back to the alley he’s watching Blue in. The superhero is gone. “Shit,” Sokka mutters under his breath, hoping Jet won’t hear.

But apparently the spirits aren’t that kind. “I’m sorry, did I distract you from something? Am I not a welcome presence here?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions, Jet,” Sokka responds. “You  _ know _ you’re never a welcome presence.”

Jet pouts. “Aw, Sokka, don’t be so mean to me! Maybe your sister would be nicer.”

“Please don’t,” Sokka warns.

“Do you think your sister would go on a date with me?”

“No,” Sokka says, storming away. “She has a wonderful boyfriend. Even if she was single, she would never stoop so low.”

Jet waggles an eyebrow at him. “No need to be so self-deprecating, Sokka.”

Sokka lets out a groan. “It was  _ one time _ , Jet. And I told you never again. Also every time you bring it up I’ve told you how much I regret it.”

“Yeah,” Jet sighs. “I suppose we all move on to bigger and better. Well, maybe not  _ better _ . But hey, he flies, so he pretty much always has the advantage. Sokka, do you think I could take your new friend?”

“Go away.” Sokka pauses for a moment. “And also no.”

“Damn. Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Sokka says. “Is there a reason you’re still here?”

“Obviously,” Jet responds, rolling his eyes. “Smellerbee’s gone missing. I was wondering if you knew anything?”

That makes Sokka’s head perk up. “What do you mean missing?”

“The definition of missing, dude. She gone girled us. Haven’t heard from her in three days.” Jet’s trying to sound nonchalant, but Sokka can tell just how worried he really is.

“Hey, I’m sure she’ll turn up,” Sokka says, putting a hand on Jet’s shoulder. “Smellerbee’s smart and she knows what she’s doing.”

Jet scoffs. “Yeah, duh idiot,” he says, moment of vulnerability over. “I just wanted to know if you knew anything, which apparently you don’t because you suck at your job. What kind of a reporter are you?”

“A damn good one,” Sokka says, adding Smellerbee’s name to the list of the missing.  _ Mai. Ty Lee. Teo, if he’s to believe Haru’s texts _ . He looks back at Jet, suddenly realizing the weight of the trail he’s on. This isn’t flying around in funny costumes and beating up street criminals anymore. These are real missing people, probably all connected, with people who care about them waiting for them to return.

Sokka doesn’t hate Jet. He’s bothered by him, sure. Most of the time he wishes the guy would fuck all the way off and leave him alone. But Jet’s plea is apparent. One of his friends is  _ gone _ and he needs Sokka to find her. Sokka takes a deep breath and finishes, “And don’t you forget it.”

+

Azula’s giving another impassioned speech, and Sokka’s sitting on the couch in the break room attempting to listen. “The children of Republic City deserve an education to show them how superior their city is!”

The crowd cheers and Sokka shakes his head. “What the fuck,” he thinks aloud. “Isn’t that just propaganda?” He waits for a response and then sighs, turning to see Zuko glued to his phone. “Zuko,” he says, waving a hand in front of the other man’s face.

The photographer snaps back to attention. “Sorry,” Zuko says, sounding appropriately sheepish.

Sokka looks at the clock and sighs. It’s already well past eight. “We’re not getting any more work done today, are we?”

Zuko shrugs. “I don’t know. If I ate some dinner I’d probably be more productive.”

“Okay,” Sokka says, mulling over the options in his head. “What if we go back to my place and order something? It’ll be a nice change of scenery and we’ll have the murder board to work with.”

“Sounds good,” Zuko says. Sokka looks at him and can’t tell if he’s lightly blushing or if the lighting in the room is just weird. 

“Let’s go,” Sokka says, standing up. He reaches out a hand to pull Zuko up with him, which the other man quickly takes. Zuko lifts himself off the couch and the two of them leave the break room, headed for Sokka’s apartment.

+

“That’s it!” Sokka says, throwing down his stack of papers. “I’m done.”

“Sokka,” Zuko says, opening up the food they’ve ordered. “Eating something will make you feel better. You’re not you when you’re hungry.” He smiles to himself at his own joke, and under any other circumstances, Sokka might pause for a moment to fully appreciate how cute the expression looks on Zuko’s face.

Sokka shakes his head. “I can’t eat until I figure this out.”

Zuko shrugs. “Suit yourself,” he says, going back to unpacking dinner from the delivery bags.

Sokka grunts as he turns back to the murder board and feels Zuko appear over his shoulder. “I just feel like we’re not doing enough,” he says, finally letting out the anxiety he’s been holding on to for weeks.

“You’re doing everything you can, Sokka.”

“But am I, though?” Sokka says as he turns to face Zuko, suddenly frustrated. “People are missing, and we’re the only ones looking into this. We haven’t told anyone because Blue put us on the case but what if we’re not working fast enough?”

“Sokka, we’re working so hard, you can’t get in your head about this—”

“What if they’ve  _ died _ ?” Sokka continues, interrupting Zuko. “What if they’ve died because we waited too long to figure out what Azula wanted and now she’s killed them? Oh spirits, we’ve royally—”

Sokka is cut off by Zuko yanking him forward by his collar to crash their lips together. Responding immediately and in kind, he cradles the back of Zuko’s head with one hand and scrambles to find a grip at the back of Zuko’s shirt with the other to pull the other man closer. Zuko sighs against Sokka’s lips and that’s the last straw.

Zuko is pressed up against Sokka with no space in between and Sokka can barely think in full sentences. He’s twisted his fingers in Zuko’s hair and all he can taste is mint on the other man’s soft lips. Zuko gives as good as he gets and Sokka thinks about how lucky he is to be kissing this man again.

Wait. Again?

It had been a nice break, Sokka supposes, going a few minutes without stress. But now his brain is in overdrive trying to figure out where that observation came from. He’s never kissed Zuko before, but something about his lips is oddly familiar. Sokka is taking in everything about Zuko, but scientifically. He searches for evidence until he finally finds it. The mint, the mint is also something absurdly not new about kissing Zuko.

Sokka’s stomach starts to roll as a hypothesis presents itself. He’s not going to blow up what truly is a very nice make out session without some proof though so he musters all the strength in his body to pull himself away from Zuko, unable to do so without sighing.

Zuko frowns slightly at the loss of contact. “You’re thinking too much.”

Sokka takes a deep breath, attempting not to focus on how Zuko’s voice sounded even raspier than usual. “I’m thinking,” he says, slowly, “that I want to move this to the couch.”

“Oh,” Zuko says, eyebrow raised, “okay.” Sokka grabs his hand and drags Zuko to the couch, pushing him into a sitting position. Zuko blinks at him, awestruck, as Sokka moves to stand behind the couch. Zuko tilts his head back so he’s looking up at Sokka.

Zuko’s eyes are wide and filled with so much care that Sokka hates himself for what he’s about to do. But he has to know. Sokka lines up his face with Zuko’s so that they’re in opposite directions, almost as if one of them was upside down. Sokka leans down to press a gentle kiss to the other man’s lips. It’s light and tender, and in any other situation it would be romantic. But Sokka’s not looking for romance, he’s looking for a very particular feeling of familiarity and…

_ Bingo _ .

Sokka lifts his head up slowly, letting the world go into slow motion as Zuko’s head also reaches up, but Sokka stays out of reach. “I can’t believe it,” Sokka says. “It’s you. He’s you.”

Zuko’s face scrunches in confusion. “Sorry?”

“You’re  _ him _ ,” Sokka continues. “The Blue Spirit.”

The surprise on Zuko’s face quickly morphs into panic. He promptly stands up and grabs the bag he came in with. “Zuko, wait,” Sokka starts, realizing what the photographer is doing, “we can talk—”

Sokka’s interrupted by the slamming of his apartment door, and he’s left standing alone in the middle of the room, with no answers and no Zuko.

+

Sokka storms into work on time the next morning ready to confront Zuko, but he never shows. He spends the whole day on the edge of his seat, and not even Yue can calm him down. Zuko’s absence gets increasingly worrying for Sokka, but he figures the other guy is doing his best to ignore him, so tomorrow he’ll just be more creative.

And creative he is. He arrives at work an hour early, goes in through the service elevator, and hides underneath his desk so that Zuko won’t see him as he walks in. He’s under the desk, hunched over and typing on his laptop until Yue’s head appears. “You know it’s ten, right?”

Sokka curses under his breath when he looks at his watch and realizes she’s right. “He’s still not here?”

“Nope,” Yue says, “not yesterday, not today. Is everything okay with you guys?”

“Yes! No. I really don’t know. I’ve just been really unproductive without him.”

“You could always ask HR where he is.”

Sokka perks up at the suggestion and accidentally hits his head on the bottom of the desk. “Ow,” he says, bringing a hand up to gently massage the spot of his injury. Yue giggles and reaches a hand underneath the desk. Sokka takes it and she helps him slide out. He stands up and brushes off his pants. “Okay, maybe that’s not an awful idea.”

Sokka resolves not to check immediately, but it takes about five minutes for his patience to run out, and then he’s running down the stairs to HR’s floor. When he bursts out of the stairwell he notices the calm demeanor on the floor, totally unmatched with his own frantic energy. He takes a deep breath and strolls up to the front desk, where a petite girl is looking down at her computer. “Hi,” Sokka says, leaning against the desk, “I’m worried about one of my colleagues who hasn’t shown up for a few days. Would you be able to help me with that?”

The girl looks up. “Name?”

“Sokka Qanik.”

“No,” she responds, rolling her eyes, “your  _ colleague’s _ name.”

“Oh,” Sokka says, a little embarrassed. “Zuko Huo.”

The girl blushes a little bit. “Oh yeah, I know Zuko.” She’s struggling to contain a smile and  _ Zuko did not, that bastard, flirting with other people _ and then  _ okay Sokka, now may not be time to have a jealous freak out _ . The girl suddenly speaks, pulling Sokka out of his own head. “He called in sick today and yesterday.”

_ Obvious lie _ . “Is there any chance you could give me his address?” Sokka says. Seeing the girl’s features tighten, he tries to backtrack. “He’s my friend, I just want to check in on him, bring him some soup, you know?”

She shakes her head. “I’m sorry Mr. Qanik, it’s our policy to keep the personal information of our employees private.”

“Come on…” Sokka takes a moment to glance at the woman’s name plate, internally cursing himself for not having done it earlier, “Jin. I’ll make sure to tell him how it’s thanks to you I’m there at all! I’m sure he’ll be so grateful to you.”

Jin blushes again. “You really think so?” Sokka nods enthusiastically and Jin sighs in defeat. “Fine,” she says, clicking a button on her keyboard and then standing to walk over to the printer, “just don’t tell my boss. She’ll kick my ass.” She walks back to Sokka and hands over the paper.

“Thank you so,  _ so _ much, Jin,” Sokka says, snatching the paper out of her hand and running back towards the stairs. “I won’t forget this!”

“You better not!” Jin shouts after him. “You promised you’d tell Zuko I helped!”

But Sokka can barely hear her as he races down the stairs while reading Zuko’s address and formulating the quickest route to get there on public transportation. In fifteen minutes, he’s off the bus and standing in the elevator of Zuko’s apartment building, muttering words of encouragement to try to get the rickety box to move up faster.

Sokka breathes a sigh of relief when the elevator finally dings, signaling that he’s landed at his intended floor. The elevator doors open and thankfully Zuko’s apartment is just a few steps away. Sokka presses on the buzzer hard, holding it down for a long time before picking up his finger and pressing the button again many times in short succession.

“Zuko!” Sokka yells, deciding to opt for a new approach. He starts pounding on the door. “Zuko, I know you’re in there!”

Sokka hears something crack and his head throbs with the noise, so he takes a pause to make sure he didn’t break the door. Sokka stares down at his hand for a moment to make sure nothing’s wrong and realizes he’s seeing triple. The pain at the back of his head finally kicks in and the dizziness makes him crumple to the floor.

As the world goes black around him he hears someone say, “Well  _ that _ was easier than I thought.”

+

Sokka wakes up sideways on hard cement. The air is cold… underground, maybe? He sits upright and notices that his hands are bound behind his back, but not too tightly. He wiggles them around to get some feeling in his wrists when he hears a snort from behind him.

In a completely undignified manner, he butt-scooches a hundred and eighty degrees to face the source of the laughter.

To say he’s shocked would be a lie. 

“I’m sorry,” Azula says with a grin painted on her face, “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

_ Keep your cool, Sokka _ . “Yeah,” he scoffs, unsurprised. “Not a shocker that it’s you.”

He’s hoping to throw her off her game, to piss her off, but her smile only widens. “Was it supposed to be? I thought I made it fairly obvious.”

Sokka wiggles his hands again, now that they’re out of Azula’s sight, reaching for the pen he’s hoping is still in his back pocket. “I don’t get why you kidnapped me though.”

Azula fixes him with a glare. “Have you not figured out who I am yet?”

His hand lands on the pen. If he can cut himself out, maybe he can grab his phone to let someone know he’s here. “Let me think,” Sokka starts, shifting ever so slightly to make the pen out of his pocket less conspicuous. He starts talking again, a little louder than before hoping the sound of the rope breaking. “The Blue Spirit said he was the only survivor from his planet,” Sokka says, “but Zuko  _ is _ the Blue Spirit, and Zuko mentioned a run-in with his birth father. So, he’s not really the only survivor.”

“Getting there,” Azula says. “Please start figuring it out faster. I’m dreadfully bored.”

Sokka’s racking his brain to try to keep her occupied. “The Blue Spirit… he mentioned having a sister, back on his planet. And from the way you acted around him at our interview, I’m guessing that’s you? And all the disappearances, you’re brainwashing them or something?”

Azula starts clapping. “Bravo! You’ve done it!”

“That still doesn’t explain why you’ve kidnapped  _ me _ , though.” Sokka sucks in a breath as he hears a strand of rope snap, hoping that he’s hid the noise.

Azula rolls her eyes. “Isn’t it  _ obvious _ ? I’m here to conquer this planet, and I want my brother to help me.”

Sokka grunts, feeling more of the ropes break behind him. “He would  _ never _ help you,” Sokka says, choosing to monologue rather than let her get another word in. “Zuko cares about the people of Earth. He thinks they’re kind and perfect and he would never let you and your father come here and take over.” Sokka feels the last thread of rope snap and quickly tightens his wrists so that it doesn’t appear as if anything’s changed.

“No kidding,” Azula says, “that’s why I kidnapped you, of course.”

Sokka starts slowly lowering his arms, attempting to reach his phone in his other back pocket. “What do you mean?”

Azula sighs. “Well, if I steal his boyfriend and threaten his life, Zuko  _ has _ to join me.”

Sokka double takes. “Boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Azula says. “You. My brother’s boyfriend.”

“I’m not dating your brother,” Sokka says, freezing his movement.

“Yes, you are,” Azula says. “I investigated. You two are extremely close. Zuzu kissed you after the meteor shower!”

Sokka laughs. “I’m sorry to be the one to have to tell you this, but you’re wrong. I didn’t know your brother was the Blue Spirit when he kissed me. I haven’t talked to him in two days. Well...” Sokka says, slowly starting to reach for his phone again, “I don’t know how long you've had me here. Two days since you nabbed me in front of your brother’s apartment.”

“But I  _ can’t _ have miscalculated,” Azula says, looking up at some invisible math problem on the ceiling. Sokka continues slipping his hand down as Azula continues to mumble. “But the hand holding doesn’t make sense if— oh  _ please _ do stop trying to escape. It’s ridiculously distracting.”

Sokka lets his jaw go slack as Azula walks towards him. “I don’t know what you were planning on doing,” Azula says, “recording my confession, calling for help, but you  _ have _ to know that I’m smarter than that.” She draws back her hand and throws a fist towards his face, and again he sees black.

+

The next time Sokka wakes up he hears shouting and glass smashing. He blinks his eyes open and Azula seems stressed. “But you  _ have _ to come help me!”

Whoever she’s talking to responds,“Does the Fire Lord even know that you’re here? Trying to recruit me?” It takes Sokka a moment to register the voice amidst his grogginess, but it’s Zuko.

Azula’s eyes flit around the room nervously. “No,” she says, “but he’ll be glad to have you back! Especially if he knows that you’re helping me to conquer this world.”

Zuko laughs. “Azula, the Fire Lord  _ hates _ me. Always has.”

“Well, our  _ father _ won’t hate you anymore!” Azula shouts. “I won’t abandon you like you abandoned me!”

“Azula, I didn’t even know you were  _ alive _ until a few weeks ago!” Zuko yells back. “Father told me you died!”

Azula freezes and slowly smiles. “You called him father.”

Sokka finally musters up the strength to speak. “Zuko,” he groans, “are you gonna fight her or something?”

Azula rolls her eyes. “You pick  _ now _ to wake up?”

“Sokka!” Zuko says, rushing towards him. “Thank Agni you’re okay.” Zuko kneels down so they’re at the same level and lifts Sokka’s jaw, inspecting him for wounds. “I came in and saw you on the floor, I wasn’t sure if you were—”

Zuko’s interrupted by a fire blast whizzing past them. “Zuko!” Azula cries. “We’re not done!”

“Hey,” Sokka says, smiling tightly at Zuko. “I’ll be fine. I’m still super pissed at you, but we can talk about that after you take care of your sister.”

Zuko grimaces and nods. Before turning around to face his sister. “Azula,” he says, slowly walking towards her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Azula shrugs. “I don’t know, I really don’t mind whether or not I hurt you.” She sends another fireblast in his direction, effectively stopping his advancement. “But I think for today, I might not.”

“Azula,” Zuko warns, “whatever you’re about to do—”

“I’m not about to do anything!” Azula says, picture of innocence. “You’ll come around. And I’ll keep working on my goals until you decide to join me.”

“Listen—”

“No,  _ you _ listen!” Azula continues. “There’s work to be done, and I don’t have the time to wait for you to catch up. I’ll get you up to speed when you realize that our  _ family _ is more important than this stupid planet but until then, I’m going to continue to make our father proud. So goodbye, Zuzu. I’ll see you soon.” And with that, Azula shoots three fire blasts at different corners of the room, setting it on fire, before running up the stairs.

“Holy Tui,” Sokka says, seeing the walls go up in flames, “she really set the room on fire.”

“Hold on,” Zuko says, deep in concentration. He takes a deep breath in and sucks the flames off the walls, into his mouth. He exhales and a little puff of smoke exits his mouth.

Sokka whistles. “Very cool.”

Zuko smiles. “Let’s get you home.”

+

Sokka’s sitting across from Zuko in the same café they first bonded in. After a quiet trip back home, he hadn’t seen Zuko until the next morning at work. They had exchanged some polite hellos before Sokka asked Zuko to get coffee. Zuko had agreed but they hadn’t spoken a word to each other on the walk over. They’d ordered quickly, and are now both sipping their drinks and silence.

He’s looking at Zuko, but the man across the table won’t make eye contact with Sokka. When Zuko finally looks up from staring at his coffee, he notices Sokka looking and quickly averts his eyes again.

Sokka decides he’s tired of the quiet. “So…” he starts, not quite sure where he’s planning on taking the sentence.

Luckily Zuko chimes in. “Are you going to write about me?”

“No,” Sokka says, “I’m not.” He pauses for a moment before deciding to be honest. “I thought about it, though.”

Zuko nods. “You know, you can if you want to.” He takes a deep breath. “It’ll put you back on the front page.”

“I emailed Piandao last night,” Sokka said, “and we agreed our deal is off. I’m going to get back on the front page the right way. Plus, your crazy sister is still out there trying to take over the world. Republic City kind of needs you out there to take her down.”

“I don’t want to take her down. I thought she was dead,” Zuko says, “and it turns out she’s just been under my father’s influence. I spent a few months with him and almost burned down my house when I was a kid but,” Zuko shakes his head, “I know she’s still in there. I can save her.”

Sokka reaches a hand across the table to place on top of Zuko’s. “If anyone can do it, you can.” Zuko looks down at the contact and realizing what he’s done, Sokka snatches his hand back. “So I have to ask, which one’s the real you?”

Zuko looks confused. “Excuse me?”

“You know,” Sokka says, “nerdy, klutzy, shy photographer? Or the suave and deep superhero? Who did I actually kiss?”

“Is it cheesy if I say both?” Zuko says. “And I really am sorry for kissing you. I shouldn’t have done it, it was irresponsible and unprofessional and if you want to request a new partner I’ll totally go and—”

“Oh, calm down,” Sokka says, taking pity on him. “You don’t have to feel bad. I kind of wanted you to kiss me anyway.”

As Sokka takes a sip of his drink, Zuko responds, “You did?”

Sokka almost spittakes when he realizes what he’s revealed. He looks up slowly to see a ghost of a smile on Zuko’s face. “And what about it?”

Zuko blushes at Sokka’s forwardness. “Well, um, do you think you maybe would want to do it again sometime?”

Sokka pauses. Zuko lied, and after Sokka had thought they trusted each other. He had no idea how much of what he knew about the photographer was real. But still, Zuko had shown up to save him, and ordered dinner for him when he was stressed. And Zuko had opened up to him even more than Sokka had realized when he was under the mask. And even more than all that, Sokka liked him.

“You know what?” Sokka says, making his decision. “Take me on a real date first, and we’ll see.”

Zuko smiles and nods. “Okay, a real date,” he says, “I can do that.”

+

_ Three months later _

Sokka is standing on the edge of a building, once again trying not to lose his balance. Really, he’s more concerned with the notebook in his hand. Piandao will be  _ pissed _ if he loses another one.

“Get a little closer!” He yells to the photographer. The guy is frozen to the middle of the roof, shaking his head. It’s fair though, and Sokka’s sure he’ll ask for a partner transfer the second they get back to the office. Ever since Piandao told Sokka and Zuko that they couldn’t work together after they’d filed their official relationship paperwork, Sokka hadn’t been able to keep a photographer for more than two weeks.

This photographer had impressingly made it about a week and a half. “I need a picture!” Sokka shouts again. When the photographer shakes his head again, Sokka stomps his foot in frustration, losing his footing.

As he starts falling backward, Sokka lets out a “whoop!” and starts laughing. He counts backwards in his head five, four, three, and suddenly he’s being lifted upwards in a fireman carry. Sokka starts laughing again. “Took you long enough, dummy.”

“Hey,” says Zuko, dressed in full Blue Spirit getup, “in my defense, you promised you’d stop falling off buildings.”

“Unnecessarily,” Sokka responds. “This was for a story.”

Zuko frowns and begins to let them drift downwards. “You and I have very different meanings of the word ‘necessary’.”

When they reach the ground, Zuko lets Sokka down. “You know,” Sokka says, “I’m almost positive this earthquake is your sister’s fault, and Suki’s running around somewhere trying to get, and I quote, ‘payback for that chick hurting my friends’.”

Zuko grimaces. “It’s getting harder to call her off when it comes to my sister, isn’t it?”

Sokka nods. “Just try to get to saving her sooner rather than later, all right?”

“Doing my best,” Zuko says, “I promise.” He leans over to give Sokka a kiss on the cheek, but Sokka pushes him away. Zuko pouts.

“I’m sorry,” Sokka says, “but I’m in a very committed relationship.”

Zuko grins. “Good. So am I.”

Sokka takes a look around and decides the alley they’ve landed in is deserted enough. He grabs Zuko and yanks him forward into a kiss. Zuko responds quickly, snaking his arms around Sokka’s waist to pull him in closer.

When they break apart, Zuko’s grinning dopily. “Okay,” he says, “I have to go stop this earthquake. Please try to stop Suki from murdering my sister in the meantime.”

“No problem, babe,” Sokka responds. “See you the next time I fall off a building.”

“Okay, yeah,” Zuko says, before fully processing Sokka’s statement. “Wait, no. No more falling off buildings! I’ll see you for dinner tonight!”

Sokka laughs. “See ya around,  _ Blue _ .” Sokka turns away but hears his boyfriend take off behind him as he starts dialing Suki. “Hey Suki,” he says as soon as she picks up. “You saw that? Yes, of course he caught me. Are you still around?”

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment or kudos to show me you care! follow me on tumblr [tophbejfong](https://tophbejfong.tumblr.com/)


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